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Lowell High dropping culturally insensitive leadership titles

By Amelia Pak-Harvey, apak-harvey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
06/16/2016 12:07:19 AM EDT

LOWELL -- Lowell High School will drop the titles of headmaster and housemasters and replace them with "head of school" and "deans," part of an overall effort to make the school more culturally sensitive after a major racial incident last year.

Headmaster -- now Head of School -- Brian Martin recommended the change to the School Committee on Wednesday, arguing that the school should recognize what those terms have meant in the past.

"If you look at what's happened in our times, I think the high school should be part of where we go in the future with our titles and just who we are as a school community," he said.

The change is similar to one Harvard University made when it eliminated the "house master" title that some argue has connotations to slavery.

The new titles are among a number of changes that a student-run Cultural Competency Task Force -- now permanent in the school -- is rolling out next year.

School staff will also have mandatory cultural sensitive training, and the school will have an advisory student committee to help recruit a more diverse workforce at the school.

Students on the task force, formed in the aftermath of a racially charged texting conversation that went viral, told the School Committee how the group changed their thinking.

Amy Boateng, who graduated this year, said she didn't really think she could talk to any of her teachers before about such issues.

"The teachers actually care about what we think, they care about how we feel," she said.

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Quinn Breen, who also graduated this year, said it made him realize the importance of communicating with other people to accomplish a goal.

"It empowered me as a student," he said. "It made me realize my potential as someone who can create change in my community."

The School Committee also reviewed a new gender identity policy that allows students to choose the pronoun that they identify with.

The policy also allows students to access restrooms or facilities that correspond to their gender identity, although they are subject to the same rules as their peers while using the facilities.

Students who are uncomfortable using a shared facility may use a different private area or have a separate changing schedule.

Records concerning gender transition, assigned birth name and sex will be contained in a separate, confidential file.

Assistant Superintendent Jeannine Durkin said the policy is based on guidelines from the state's Department of Education, with consideration to an advisory the U.S. Department of Justice sent out last month.

That letter stated that schools must provide a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for transgender students in order to receive federal Title IX funds.

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